民訴記(98) - 不思進取

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國民, 民化島, kwokmanation, 民訴記, renewable energy, complacency, 不思進取, 再生能源

民訴記(98) - 不思進取
By Kwokman
Date: 30^th December, 2011

 Last episode was about how cars in America had terrible fuel efficiency until competitions and regulations came. Before then, manufacturers had countless excuses why it was impractical to improve efficiency. The goal of safe, powerful and fuel efficient cars had always been dismissed as being unrealistic. With pressure of competition and imminent regulations, the theory of impossibility was no more. California law makers are proposing a 54.5 mpg requirement by 2025 for all manufacturers. I hope they’re serious about it this time and other states will follow the new standards set by California. Without pressure, complacency will hinder progress. Most people are slackers. Prolonged slacking will give people excuses to claim mediocrity as the norm. They’ll even disparage hardworking people. Incompetent slackers don’t seek improvement or solution. They’re best at accepting their shortcomings. Students give up on certain subjects upon the slightest obstacles. They make peace with their inability to comprehend English. Then mathematics doesn’t seem to be their specialty either and no one’s perfect anyway. Eventually they give up on science, literature, art and music until nothing is left.  People who set out to lose weight balk at the first attempt of a healthy diet. Then they decide that living happily is more important than living responsibly. Eventually, they too learn to accept and love their fat bodies. Naturally, the next step is to disparage people with healthy and normal weight. 

People who truly understand self-acceptance will definitely treasure their health and potential. If you’re inadequate in any way, you would make the efforts required to be whole.  If you’re a slacker, you should know that and blame no one but yourself. Slackers joining forces and voices won’t make slacking right. Your support groups should encourage each other to improve, not to indulge. You might find lots of support but that’s just because there’re too many slackers and they like to promote mediocrity. Anyway, very few people like to hear the truth. Let me get back on the topic of energy crisis.

Actually, there’s no energy crisis for natural resources are plentiful. The crisis lies with people. Besides oil, there’re many ways to generate energy. Hydrogen is a clean fuel. Water is a product of hydrogen and oxygen. Burning hydrogen will produce water instead of toxic gas. It’s also abundant because it’s part of water. The biggest problem is that extracting hydrogen from water requires energy, thereby nullifying its benefits. Burning fossil fuels to extract hydrogen won’t reduce pollution or reliance on fossil fuels. Please observe how green plants produce oxygen from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. Scientists at Caltech, MIT and Yale are making artificial leaves that can produce hydrogen through photosynthesis. If they succeed, hydrogen as fuel can become main stream. On a different note, wind mills are popular in the northwest of America. Whenever there’s a storm, the wind mills will generate more power than the customers can consume. Power companies sometimes must cut off some wind mills in order to avoid overloading and destroying the power grids. These actions often cause disputes and result in law suits between the wind mills operators and the power companies as the wind mills operators rely on the power companies to buy their energy. The problem is that there’s no efficient way to save store large quantity of electricity. One will need to convert the excess power into something physical -- may I suggest hydrogen? This is merely an example. There’re many other ways, if only people stop making excuses and stop being complacent. It’s tempting to accept your shortcomings but it’s a one way street to self-destruction. 

精選歌曲﹕

梅艷芳- 發電一千Watt

曲:堀内孝雄 詞: 潘偉源

*嬌羞的輕輕擺腰走過　千百美態蕩漾似水波
　他他他好似著了魔　望我眼在噴火
他的心偷偷講聲好囉　一雙眼直視我心窩
　睜開一對大眼睛　絕沒有擔心結果
呵...輕輕輸出一千Watt電　你已似醉像傻
　假使輸出七億億Watt　咁你一生有禍
　今天輸出一千Watt電　你已愛到像傻
　他朝輸出七千千Watt　終生會愛著我